


A Spicy Solution

by Arenne



Series: Tales from the Wild [2]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: BOTW Game Mechanics, Brotherhood, Family Shenanigans, Fire, Gen, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Pyromania, Spicy Peppers, Twilight Protectiveness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:47:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22919431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arenne/pseuds/Arenne
Summary: Wild can always find a solution to his problems. Even if those solutions are a bit... unconventional.OrWild pulls a crazy stunt that none of his fellow Heroes find amusing.
Series: Tales from the Wild [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1629130
Comments: 32
Kudos: 858





	A Spicy Solution

**Author's Note:**

> Linked Universe belongs to jojo56830 on Tumblr.
> 
> Though this story is part of a series, it can be read completely stand-alone.

“You know, there’s an easy solution to this problem.” Wild’s tone was mild, but the dirty looks he received from several members of the group—worst of all from Twilight—suggested he had just uttered horrific blasphemies.

Twilight would not be swayed. He was as immobile in his convictions as solid stone. He crossed his arms and scowled at Wild. “Not happening,” he said simply.

Wild sighed. The “problem” was a twenty-five foot, sheer cliff that he and the rest of the group were at the bottom of. They needed to get to the top, and some quick scouting by Hyrule and Four had revealed that this rather insignificant cliff had a surprisingly substantial length. There was no end in sight, and that meant there was no alternate route.

Normally, this would not be a “problem”. Everyone could have easily scaled it, even those who didn’t have the best climbing skills. It was small enough that even if one fell, the worst that could be gotten would be bruises. However, one member of their party had a sprained ankle, and the overbearing mother cuccos of the group wouldn’t dream of letting him climb the cliff in his condition.

Wild sighed again and, once Twilight looked away, gingerly put some weight on his right ankle. He winced as pain lanced up his leg, but quickly schooled his expression when Twilight whipped back towards him with eyes narrowed in suspicion. Sometimes, those Wolfie sixth senses Twilight had were downright terrifying.

This could have all been avoided if Wild had been more careful in their last encounter with crazy, stronger-than-they-should-be monsters. Maybe travelling in a large group where everyone was an incredible fighter had made him lax. He had been tag-teaming one of the monsters with Wind and hadn’t been paying attention to his back. One of the creatures had seen an opening and clamped its fingers around his ankle. That in and of itself wouldn’t have been so bad, except the monster then swung Wild around like a rag doll for a few seconds before tossing him into a tree. Those few seconds and subsequent impact had snapped several bones.

Potions had mended the worst of the damage, but even they weren’t foolproof. The bones were whole, but Wild was left with a nasty sprain and some wicked looking bruising. That had been a day and a half ago, and Wild had been forced to either hobble about while trying to put as little pressure on the ankle as possible or be helped about with his arm around one of his friend’s shoulders, usually Twilight's, but sometimes Hyrule's or Sky's.

His ankle was feeling much better, but the others were adamant. It didn’t matter how many times Wild told them he had climbed many things (things much more imposing than a small cliff) while suffering from terrible injuries; they wouldn’t hear of it.

Now they were discussing clawshots and hookshots and the mechanics of getting Wild up the cliff using one of those. Wild could only stare in horror as Twilight, Legend, and Warriors seriously debated the best way to go about it. Wild had seen those clawshots in action a few times. How they could possibly think that being flung into a wall of solid rock at high velocity was a better option than carefully climbing (even whilst injured) Wild didn’t know. At least Time wasn’t stooping to such nonsense. The eldest member of the group was following the discussion but not contributing. However, Four, Wind, and Sky seemed on board, though they were testing out Sky’s whip instead. They were running into the problem of it not being long enough to pull someone up from the top and were experimenting to see if a person could lift someone else while hanging halfway up the cliff themselves.

It was asinine.

“You okay?” Hyrule was the only one besides Time not being an idiot and was sticking near Wild. Though that could also have been because Wild might need help hobbling somewhere and Hyrule never hesitated to help someone out if he was able to. No matter the reason, Wild appreciated it.

He nodded. “Yeah.” He watched the others’ discussions for another minute before his patience completely wore out. “This is ridiculous.” If he had been alone, he would have already been up the cliff and halfway to their next destination. But he wasn’t alone, and if the others were going to be stupid, then he would just have to work around them.

They didn’t want him climbing. Well, he’d show them.

Recalling the time he had broken his leg but still needed to ascend one of the Sheikah towers, he pulled out his Sheikah Slate and tapped a few buttons. A pile of wood and a piece of flint materialized with a flash of blue light. He awkwardly squatted down, trying to keep his weight off his bad ankle. Then, he pulled out a dagger from the sheath at his hip and got to work.

Hyrule knelt beside him. “Um, what are you doing?”

Sparks flew off his dagger as it struck the flint and caught on the wood. “I’m building a fire.”

Hyrule watched as Wild coaxed the tiny flame into life. He let Wild build it up for a minute into a nice hot blaze before he spoke again, confusion coloring his voice. “But… we’re not setting up camp here.”

“I know.”

“…I’m sure the others will come up with a solution before it gets dark. It’s only midday.”

“Hmm.” It was nearly hot enough now.

Ignoring Hyrule’s obvious growing concern, Wild suppressed a smirk. This was going to be priceless.

~*~

Hyrule was worried. Wild had a scary look on his face. It wasn’t frightening, but it was the same look he’d had right before chopping down a tree, freezing it in place, hitting it a few times, climbing on, and flying through the air like he’d been launched from a giant sling shot. Hyrule still remembered that moment with startling clarity, the way his heart had leapt to his throat and stomach dropped to his toes. He now considered the look to precede moments when Wild did something completely insane that Wild considered completely normal.

It was deeply troubling, but he really didn’t want to press Wild. He’d tried, very gently, to get it out of him, to no avail, and decided to leave it at that. Besides, sometimes it was better not knowing.

By this point, Time’s attention had been attracted, and the older man came over.

“Is there any particular reason why you’re building a fire?” he asked, eyebrow raised and arms crossed. It was almost, but not quite, his disapproval face. If Wild had a “look” then Time had a “face”.

“Yes,” Wild replied, but said no more.

Time glanced over at Hyrule as if to ask, ‘ _what is he doing_?’ But Hyrule could only shake his head sadly and shrug. None of the others had noticed anything amiss, lost in their own worlds. Hyrule watched the attempts by Twilight, Legend, and Warriors to rig up a way to use the clawshot while Sky, Four, and Wind trying to pull each other up the cliff with the whip, and Hyrule got the sinking feeling that Wild’s plan would be the one to work.

Then again, maybe not. After a few minutes during which he and Time simply watched Wild tend to his fire, the other six came trotting over. Several of them eyed Wild’s fire suspiciously but didn’t say anything.

“Okay,” said Twilight, “it’s not the best, but I think we have a way of using the clawshot to get Wild up the cliff.” He brandished both his and Legends clawshots. “We’ll have to use two, though.”

“Good,” said Sky, sighing morosely, “because there’s no way using my whip is going to work. We’ve tried everything, and it’s impossible.”

Twilight nodded in acceptance and turned to Wild, who hadn’t even looked up. “Ready to go then?”

“Yeah.” Wild stood up gingerly, brushing his hands off on his trousers. He did not, however, take the offered clawshots. In fact, he ignored everyone entirely and pulled out his Sheikah Slate once more. This time, in a whirl of blue, a handful of spicy peppers appeared in Wild’s cupped palm. Hyrule was nonplussed, and he wasn’t the only one. Everyone exchanged perplexed looks.

Warriors was the first one who dared voice his confusion. “Um… what are you doing?”

In answer, Wild threw the peppers onto the fire.

As expected, nothing happened. Hyrule stared at the slightly smoking peppers in bewilderment. He looked up at Wild with the intent of asking him what in the world he thought he was doing.

But then the peppers caught fire.

A gust of extremely hot air blasted against Hyrule’s face, causing him to cry out in alarm and pain. The fire had grown at least five times hotter than it had been before, stinging Hyrule’s skin and creating an incredibly strong updraft. He threw up his hands to shield his face and out of the corner of his eye saw the others do the same. Everyone hurriedly took a few steps away from the blaze. Wild, however, didn’t miss a beat and pulled out his paraglider. Immediately, the hot, rising air caught the underside of the cloth and the Hero of the Wild was lifted high into the air. Hyrule’s jaw dropped as he watched Wild rise ten, twenty, thirty feet up in the sky. Wild hit the peak of his ascent a moment later, and he began drifting gently towards the top of the cliff.

Hyrule glanced at the others and saw the complete shock on all their faces. Twilight’s expression was especially dumbfounded. Wild touched down on the top of the cliff, stumbling only slightly on his bad leg. He immediately turned around and lifted his Sheikah Slate from its holder at his waist, angling it down towards the group on the ground. Hyrule faintly heard the clicking sound that signaled when a picture was being taken. He could only imagine the sight the eight of them made at the bottom of the cliff—legendary Heroes, brought together from across time and space in order to combat the rising darkness, standing there with their mouths hanging open.

Wild put the slate away. “Well, are you guys coming or not?” he shouted down at them.

Hyrule turned to see how Twilight would react, and he wasn’t the only one. Six and a half pairs of eyes were fixed on the Hero of Twilight. Twilight’s face was impressively blank as he said, very simply, “I’m going to kill him.”

~*~

While Wild waited for the others to climb up the cliff, which wouldn’t take long once they got over their shock, he made himself comfortable on the ground and looked at his picture. Their expressions had been priceless. He chuckled.

He knew there would be heck to pay for his little stunt, but it had been so worth it. A success all around.

And he hadn’t even had to rely on a freak bolt of lightning this time.

**Author's Note:**

> BOTW has so many crazy game mechanics. When I first discovered Linked Universe, I couldn't help but wonder what shenanigans Wild pulled around the others, and this is the result.
> 
> The last line is referencing this YouTube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK6ub-Z7snI , in which it is discovered that you can indeed play the entire game without climbing. If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend it. It's not that long, but it is quite entertaining.
> 
> Finally, if you enjoyed this work, make sure to subscribe to the series! More is on the way!
> 
> Thanks, and happy reading!


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